


Wherever You Go, I'll Follow

by zoven



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Families of Choice, Family, Gen, Papa Cabe, Slightly OOC Geniuses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-09-28 10:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10090703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoven/pseuds/zoven
Summary: AU where the squad gets adopted by Cabe & grow up together. Mix of cheesy, happy, sad, learning/growing moments experienced by each person.





	1. 1: Ferret Bueller's Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> Totally new to this so please be patient with me LOL!  
> Feel free to leave ideas/suggestions/comments/pizza coupons/prompts  
> Gonna try and keep it platonic b/w Happy & Toby and Walt & Paige. Sorry shippers :p

* * *

 

Toby: 13  
Walter: 12  
Happy: 9  
Paige: 9  
Sly: 8

* * *

“Okay, I want everyone on their best behaviour. Got it?"  
  
A collective groan echoed from the back of the Tahoe carrying federal agent Cabe Gallo and his family.  
  
"And when i say 'best behaviour', I mean it. No stupid stunts. Got it?" Gallo asked, looking in the rear mirror. Another collective set of groans and mumbling followed.  
  
"No arguing. No slapping. No snarky comments to the store workers. No rewiring or hacking in of any kind. Clear?"  
There was no response.  
"Clear?"  
  
"Yes Cabe," came the voices of five children from the rear of the Tahoe.  
  
"But what if I jus--" came the small, high pitched voice of Happy from the left seat of the middle row.  
"No. Don't even think about it because I'll call this whole thing off!" barked Cabe from the front.  
  
Happy slumped back in her booster seat. At nine years old she had the mind of an adult. She was always planning, conniving, thinking of loopholes, of what she could build with limited supplies and time.  
  
"It wouldn't have been anything bad" she said quietly.  
  
"I know sweetheart. But where we're going, it’s just not the right time for one of your inventions, that’s all," Cabe replied as he pulled into a parking spot near the rear of the store's parking lot.  
  
"Okay, we're here. Remember what I said!"  
  
One by one, the kids unloaded from the Tahoe. From the middle row came Happy, Paige and Sylvester. Walter came from the front and Toby followed suit from the rear of the car.

"Oh, my duodenum!" Toby groaned as he exited. "You know, just once in my short albeit undeniably brilliant life, I'd love to sit up front with, you know, a speck of leg room," he said looking at Walter. “I _am_ the oldest, you know,” he grumbled.

“But I got to the front first, and if we’re still playing by the so-called rules you established last week when you ate the last slice of pizza, leaving none for me: _first come, first serve_ ,” Walter retaliated.

Toby rolled his eyes and groaned, then turned his attention to Sylvester.  
  
"Oh, no way. No way! Statistically the safest place in Cabe's model of the Tahoe is the center seat in the middle row!" Sly said as he pushed up his glasses.  
  
"All the seats are safe Sylvester. And Toby, there’s plenty of legroom in the back row. Now, are we doing this or not?" Cabe replied quickly.  
"Yes!!!" Nine year old Paige squealed.  
"Okay then let's move!" said Cabe. 

* * *

 

Cabe had never been so intimidated in his life. The Pet Smart they entered was massive, containing every sort of animal from the smallest of fish to large breeds of dogs.  
  
He laughed to himself. Cabe Gallo, federal agent, was afraid of a pet store, of all things. Well, actually, it wasn’t the pet store that frightened him. It was more the idea of his rambunctious children wreaking havoc and unleashing the gates of hell and mathematics on whatever poor dog or cat or fish they picked out.  
  
And that was another thing. His kids could never agree on anything. Ever. Whether it was unquestionably difficult math problems or what to make for breakfast, they fought. And it always came down to Cabe to make the final decision.  
  
But they had begged and pleaded for weeks, months even, for a pet. Cabe hated the idea of having a pet in the house because he knew he would end up taking care of it. But when Paige and Happy put up those puppy dog eyes, he couldn't say no. Even if it meant a total breakdown in the pet store when they couldn’t agree on what pet to get.  
  
"Okay guys. Stick together and do NOT run off on your own," he said.

But the kids had already run off to the first exhibit. They stuck together, excitedly moving from exhibit to exhibit in the store. That excitement quickly faded when the kids realized that they couldn’t agree on an animal.

"What about a fish?" said Sly, stopping in front of the fish tanks.  
"Ew, no. They're slimy." said Paige.  
"Plus you can't teach a fish to jump through a flaming hoop. How bout a lizard or a snake?" said Toby.  
"But I don't want a stupid snake," said Happy dejectedly.  
"Some snakes carry poisonous venom you know!!" Sly screamed.

"Oh calm down you big baby!" said Toby, angrily.

"Toby, enough. Leave him alone." Cabe said. "If you can’t agree on a pet then we're not going to get anything."

Walter spoke next. "How about a cat??"

"I'm allergic," Sly replied.

"You're allergic to everything, Sly!" Paige piped in.

"Dog?" Walter continued.  
"Dogs bite."  
"Not all of them."  
"Well I guarantee there is a strong likelihood of a dog becoming angry and erratic and biting someone in our home!!" Sly said loudly.  
"Fine then, no dog...."  
  
After forty more minutes of banter back and forth between the kids with Cabe playing mediator, he gave up and began to usher them all back to the car.

As they moved into the parking lot, the kids were visibly upset. It had started raining while they were inside, and no one had umbrellas. So Cabe ran out in the rain to pull the car around front, leaving the kids waiting under the awning of the store.  
  
"I can't believe we spent all that time in there and came out with nothing," Paige said sadly as she kicked a pebble into the nearby sewer grate, arms folded.

"Classic textbook signs of a let down after having high expectations," Toby quietly pointed Paige out to Walter, who stood next to him.

"I can hear you Toby. Stop profiling me!" said Paige. She kicked another pebble into the sewer grate.  
  
Suddenly there was a crashing noise below them. A sleek black silhouette slithered out of the grate and stopped on the curb, waiting in the rain.  
  
Paige screamed and jumped back, "What is that?! Oh my god!"  
"Relax, it’s just a ferret," said Walter.

From her seated position on the curb, Happy could see that something was wrong.  
"Hey, I think it’s hurt. It’s got blood on it!" She slowly began to move towards the injured ferret.

"Um, Happy be careful. Ferrets carry diseases!!!" said Sly, anxiously.

Happy crawled toward the ferret and picked it up slowly. It was small and thin, like it hadn't eaten recently, but was covered in blood like it had been in a fight. It didn’t resist.  
  
Paige moved closer.  
"Aw, he’s kinda cute!"

"We don’t know if its a he or a she, Paige," said Walter.

"I think it’s a 'he'," she said.

"I think it’s a _sewer rodent_! Think of the germs!" said Sly.  
  
"Oh come on Sly, we'll give it a bath and he'll look just like a tiny dog!" Happy said. She began to stroke the ferret on its back. Sly looked on anxiously, but didn’t say anything.  
  
"I for one, think the ferret is an excellent choice for the family pet," said Toby  
"You just like it because it’s going to drive Cabe crazy," Walter retaliated.  
"Oh it’s going to be hilarious."  
"You're an ass, Toby."

"Language!" yelled Cabe from the rolled down passenger window of the Tahoe, which had finally swung around to the front of the store.

"Sorry Cabe!"  
"No you're not," Cabe said with a smirk.  
"Cabe look! We found a pet after all!" said Paige, now giddy with excitement.

"What-- is that a-- did you...did you pick a ferret out of the sewer?" asked Cabe as the kids piled into the car.

"Nooooo.... The ferret crawled out of the sewer and I picked it up off the road," said Happy, proudly, beaming.  
  
Cabe was speechless. "Out of all the things to agree on, you agreed on picking a rodent off the streets??" he asked, baffled.  
  
A collection of "yes'" filled the car as the kids all climbed into the Tahoe and buckled their seatbelts.  
As Cabe began to drive home, he looked in his rearview mirror. Happy and Paige were giggling and ooh-ing and aahh-ing over the ferret, while poor Sly in the middle just looked like he was going to be sick. Toby and Walter were leaning over the backseat watching Happy stroke the ferret.

It was peaceful, for once. (Until Sylvester began to throw up. But it was nice while it lasted.)   
  
No one was arguing. And while Cabe thought himself insane for allowing his literal genius children to pick an animal out of the sewer, if it got them to stop arguing for even a minute, he was okay with it.  
His kids were weird, but he loved it. And he loved them.  
  
"OOH we should name him Ferret Bueller!!!" Toby said excitedly.  
"How do you know that reference Toby????" asked Cabe.  
There was a long pause.  
"No reason."  
  
" _That poor ferret_ ," thought Cabe, " _it's in for one hell of a ride_."


	2. 2: Back to the Birddrone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't forget about this fic, I swear! Thanks to everyone who read & left kudos on the last chapter, it really pushed me to write this next one! It's short and sweet!

* * *

Toby: 13  
Walt: 12  
Happy: 9  
Paige: 9  
Sly: 8

* * *

 

The entire family was huddled around the TV set, watching Back to the Future pt II for what seemed like the 50th time in a week. It had become a tradition for them to watch the sequel as many times as possible during Christmas break while everyone was home together. Now that all the kids were getting older, they were all at different stages in different schools and never had the same breaks. Christmas break was the only time.

Toby and Sly were sitting together on one of the couches. Toby was inhaling a bowl of popcorn and several packs of twizzlers next to him. Now that he was 13, his metabolism was eating Cabe out of house and home. Sly was fidgeting with his tablet, which was a Christmas gift from Walter, but he was still enthralled by the movie. Sly was trying to configure it so it would be completely secure and have all of his math apps installed. Happy and Paige were sitting on the floor on a blanket, munching on popcorn. Walt was sitting by himself on the other couch. Walter had given up trying to point out all the mathematical and statistical flaws in the movie; there were far too many for him and each time he watched the movie he noticed a few more.

Cabe was overjoyed; he loved having all of his kids at home. But he loved the fact that all five of the kids actually all liked Back to the Future II; it was definitely a rarity that they agreed.

“Grandma, when it’s ready, could you just shove it in my mouth?” Paige quoted. Her mediocre impersonation sent Happy rolling with laughter.  
“Why doesn’t that exist?!? I NEED that!!” Toby yelled with two twizzlers sticking out of his mouth.  
“Gross, Toby. You’re spreading germs all over the place!” Sly squealed, inching further away from Toby and looking absolutely disgusted.

“A pizza-mail-insertion service would FIX AMERICA!” Toby screamed, sending spit flying. Sly screamed and ran to the other couch, causing Happy and Toby to simultaneously roll their eyes.  
“How long till the drones come in?” Walter asked.  
“Don’t you have this movie memorized Walter?” Paige asked  
“No, that would be a waste of my time and highly inefficient when I could just hack the script,” Walter said  
“Few more minutes, son,” Cabe said walking in the room with a single wrapped present in his hand and a beer in the other hand.

“Who’s gift is that?” Happy asked.  
“This is for all of you actually. I know it’s uh.. It’s a few days late but it’s still good,” Cabe said.  
“WHOA awesome!” Paige yelled, getting up from her spot on the floor and grabbing the gift out of Cabe’s hand  
“Hang on grabbypants that’s for all of us!!” Toby said, spitting popcorn everywhere.  
“I wanna pull the ribbon!” Sly said.

The five kids all gathered around the gift, tugging and ripping and sending paper flying.

“It’s a K’Nex roller coaster!” Sly said  
“‘ _Raptor Revenge_ ’” Toby said, reading off the box.  
“Sick!” Happy yelled  
“Let’s start putting it together!!” Paige said  
“But, the drones!” Walter said sadly.  
“We can keep the movie on in the background,” Cabe suggested.

“What if we mash up this coaster with the other ones we have and make a mega coaster?!” Happy said excitedly.  
Paige nodded and ran out of the room searching for the other kits.

“Guys, the drone’s on,” Walter said, focused on the TV. Cabe plopped down onto the couch and was watching the movie too, but he saw the devilish look in Happy’s eyes as she eyed her siblings.

“Why don’t we build our own drone?” Sly said.  
“As long as it doesn't blow up or shoot me in the butt like that ping pong ball thing you made last week, I don't care.” Cabe said, eyeing the kids suspiciously.

“We're gonna need some electrical wiring, duct tape and the motor from the coaster” Happy said.  
“We can use the coaster tracks and some pegs for the body,” Walter suggested  
“We should shape it like an animal or something!” Paige said  
“Something inconspicuous, like a sewer rat… Or Ferret Bueller!!” Toby said  
“Ferret Bueller is the opposite of inconspicuous, Toby” Paige retorted.  
“Hey, Ferret Bueller slinked out of the sewer, that is the definition of stealth!” Toby screamed.  
“How about a bird? That's stealthy…You know back when I was in the Marines -- ” Cabe chimed in.

Suddenly Sly stood up on the couch, spread his arms out and his eyes went wide.  
“ _Birddrone_ ,” he whispered, interrupting Cabe.

“Oh god,” Paige said  
“Not again,” Happy moaned  
“Seriously? Birddrone is a lame name,” Toby chimed in.  
“No it's not!! It's logical AND made with LOVE!!” Sly retaliated.  
“Sly, we can make a bird shaped drone but we are not calling it that,” Walter said.  
Sly frowned, then said, “fine, I'll go get the duct tape.”

The kids spent the rest of the morning huddled over a pile of tape and wires and plastic roller coaster tracks. Every once in a while Cabe would help them stick a couple of wires together, since he still wasn’t super comfortable with them dealing with live electrical wiring. Three hours later, Happy proudly held out a bird-shaped mess of tangled wires, tape, and knex pieces to Cabe. She was beaming with pride. The girl loved to make stuff.

“Hey, it actually looks like a bird! I'm proud of you guys, it looks great!” Cabe said happily.

“BIRDDRONE IS ALIVE” Sly yelled, pumping a fist into the air.

“We're NOT calling it that!!” Paige yelled back.

“Hey I think Birddrone is a unique name, perfect for this unique bunch,” Cabe said

“See, it's not lame!”  
“I never said that,” Cabe retaliated. The kids all laughed.  
“Birddrone’s fine, I guess,” Walter said  
“It's growing on me,” Toby chimed in.  
“Yeah, I guess its okay,” Paige laughed.

“Can we fly this thing now?!” Happy said giddily, holding up a remote control made from one of the broken Wii remotes in the house (Toby had sat on it a few weeks ago), a nintendo DS and some extra wiring. Cabe smiled and nodded. Paige grabbed Cabe’s hand and dragged him outside with the other kids, and the six of them spent the rest of the cool winter day flying Birddrone around the backyard, laughing and throwing snowballs at each other and at the drone. And once everyone's fingers went numb and noses went red, they all went inside and drank hot chocolate, ordered two pizzas (one for Toby and one for everyone else) and migrated back to the couch to watch back to the future II. Again.


End file.
